Kris Buchanan

I love to paint and draw, and my current favorite medium is silk. I have painted photo-realistic watercolors for 40 years, but since a good friend of mine and I took a class from Karen Sistek, all I have painted on is silk with dyes. Using the Sistek Sizing Technique, I have been able to adapt my watercolor technique to silk painting. Her technique lets me paint close up with lots of detail, variations in color, and deep shades. I am known for my photorealism, which I now find easier to accomplish on silk than paper. Now I am experimenting with and really enjoying abstract figurative painting, although I find this much harder than photorealism.

I use Jacquard Red Label dyes and love them. Since there are so many color and shade variations in the subjects that I paint, I mix the dyes on my pallet to match the photo that I use to paint from. Jacquard Red Label dyes allow me the freedom to use dyes like I do my watercolors.

All of my silk paintings are on Habotai 16mm silk, which, of course, I buy from Dharma Trading Co. The 16mm is heavier, so I can saturate it with dye to achieve dark, rich colors and I can scrub the dye from dark to light with no problems.

I have a BA from California State University East Bay in Art with an emphasis in drawing. I have adapted what I learned about drawing to my paintings. To achieve the photorealistic detail and depth that my paintings are known for, I paint what I see not what I THINK I see. I paint small portions of the subject at a time, sometimes talking to myself, verbally directing my hand and brush (my husband has gotten used to me talking to myself while I paint). Many times, especially when I paint the top of a painting, I turn the whole thing upside down, including the photo that I paint from. This way I see the shapes, color variations, and values of the subject in a different way. As an example, if you want to paint an eye, turn it upside down. The eye will not look like an eye, but if you paint just what you see, then turn it right side up, it will look like an eye often with more details and accuracy. Try to train your mind to see what is there, not what you think something should look like. Try it!

I combine this way of painting with cognitive painting, which means that I have to sometimes manipulate the values and colors to give clarity and depth. If a petal, for example, is next to another petal, but they are almost the same value or color, I change one of them to be slightly lighter or darker, thus sending one of them behind the other.

I am a member of SPIN (Silk Painters International) and have an article in the Winter 2021 magazine and one of my paintings on the cover. My watercolors have been exhibited and sold in galleries in Hawaii, Napa, Sonoma, Carmel, and Durango. I am an international teacher that has taught children and adults drawing, painting, and jewelry making of my own designs for 35 years. I have written 4 "how to do" books on Micro Macrame Jewelry that have sold over 25,000 copies.